In partnership with Keep America Beautiful and Bud Light, Seattle Works threw a mural painting party in Seattle’s historic International District on July 19! Over 40 volunteers came out on Saturday to help revitalize a neglected, but heavily-trafficked block in the busy neighborhood.

We worked with Urban ArtWorks and local artist Jonathan Fischer to create the mural, titled “Eternal Spring.” The design was inspired by the joy Seattle’s famous cherry blossoms bring to the city each Spring — the promise that a long, grey winter is over and summer is on its way. Volunteers worked with the artist to use a combination of rollers, brushes, stencils and spray paint to create an explosion of color that spanned most of the block. As we worked, neighbors honked their horns in support, cheered, dealt out many thumbs-ups and even wandered over to shake volunteers’ hands and thank them for their work. We even made it into the Seattle Times.

We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with KAB to bring such a fantastic gift to a busy part of our city!

On Saturday, May 31, about 100 volunteers participated in the Bud Light Do Good. Have Fun. event at Calumet Park in Chicago. Calumet Park is a historic park of nearly 200 acres, including a beach, numerous playing fields, a basketball court, and a running track. Through the coordination of the Chicago Park District, Keep Chicago Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful, volunteers showed up ready and willing to make this project a success. The basketball court was re-striped, the standards and backboards were painted, and new nets were hung. At the same time, volunteers raked tons of limestone screenings onto the running track, transforming it from a narrow cinder path into a seven-foot-wide running path. Bags of winter debris were gathered up. It was a nice surprise to the volunteers when they were able to partake in free throw contests with prizes ranging from coolers to concert tickets. After the work was done, volunteers celebrated their efforts together with some refreshing Bud Light. The weather was perfect, the volunteers were enthusiastic, and the park looked spectacular—another successful Keep Chicago Beautiful event!

A huge thank you to Bud Light for their generous support of Keep Chicago Beautiful and to the Calumet Park community for providing a welcome transformation that will sustain the Calumet Park community for many years to come.

It’s not an easy task to plant a forest and save one all in a day’s work; however, a group of Dow volunteers made it look simple. As part of Dow’s 2014 Great American Cleanup, volunteers planted 146 trees to create the new forest at Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, MI, on May 14. The group was also busy saving an existing forest by removing garlic mustard seed, an exotic invasive species. In total, 14 different species of trees were planted by 30 volunteers.

The work put in by the volunteers will have a lasting effect on the local environment and the community will be able to enjoy it for years to come.

“The diverse trees planted will allow a place for birds and other wildlife to nest and eat,” said Tom Lenon, director of land and facilities at Chippewa Nature Center. “Plus, it will bring beauty to the region as the season change and the fall colors are in full bloom.”

“Giving back is part of who we are at Dow,” said Mike Witt, global leader at Dow. “My team and I are always excited to volunteer, and projects like this allow us to have a lasting effect on our community that generations of people can enjoy.

The tree planting initiative is one of more than 60 Great American Cleanup events that Dow will host across the U.S. this year. A national sponsor of the Great American Cleanup since 2008, employees from Dow sites across the U.S. collaborate with local organizations and volunteers in cleanup, recycling, beautification and education initiatives to improve their communities through sustainable solutions for a cleaner and greener tomorrow.

We’re wrapping up our spring clean up activities today and shifting our focus to beautification. Every year the junior high students do a clean-up in the neighborhoods surrounding the school. This year we capped it off with an assembly presentation by Iowa’s own Chad Pregracke. His presentation was great–fun, thought provoking, and inspiring. To show how good it was, the kids didn’t want to leave! And they weren’t even going back to class. They preferred asking questions to hanging out for ten minutes before going home. The students were divided into 7 groups. The photo is of the group that found a shot put.

Keep Akron Beautiful was privileged to work with a group of young students that cleaned up the Hyre Trail in Akron, OH during the most beautiful Saturday of the year, so far, on April 26, 2014! Andrew Lamb, our fearless volunteer leader, and his group, Pi Sigma Epsilon, gathered together on a Saturday morning and weren’t afraid to get dirty! They spent hours upon hours, pulling trash, tires, and interesting items out of the water along the Hyre Trail. Over 40 bags of trash was collected, along with multiple tires, bottles, cans and even some plastic furniture! Keep Akron Beautiful is proud to work with groups like this as we help to beautify the City of Akron throughout the entire month of April, stretching into the first week of May. Currently, we have 105 groups registered with more than 2,000 volunteers working to Keep Akron Beautiful!

Keep Clark County Beautiful is helping the National Trail Parks and Recreation District in Springfield, Ohio, to create an educational nature walk trail for urban youth with little or no access to wilderness areas in the city. On Sunday, March 31, 2014, volunteers removed over 1,000 lbs. of litter from the soon-to-be trail, along with dozens of dumped tires and other bulk items. Utilizing KCCB’s new Community Cleanup Trailer, volunteers were also able to clear vines, weeds, and honeysuckle from the trail as well.

Volunteers from Cedarville University, Wittenberg University, and the Childrens Rescue Center pitched in to spruce up the Jefferson Street Oasis community garden and Gopher Dome community center on Saturday, March 22, 2014. They collected over 40 bags of litter in addition to removing illegally dumped tires.